‘The Genie's Out of the Bottle’: The Impact of Working Online with Individual Psychodynamic Psychotherapy for Therapists and Clients, and its Lessons for Psychodynamic Training

Abstract

The forced move to online work in 2020 was initially greeted with consternation by many in the psychoanalytic world, but adaptation was subsequently accomplished by many with successful results for clients. At WPF Therapy where individual psychodynamic psychotherapy is offered by therapists in training, we did a qualitative and participative study with clients, trainees and supervisors to explore how these groups felt about online work. A participative and pluralistic approach was chosen to achieve a fuller and more balanced understanding. Eighteen trainees interviewed each other, 19 supervisors contributed through focus groups and individual interviews, and eight clients’ perspectives were explored in individual interviews. The findings were that working online offered different and exciting opportunities for therapy, including the unconscious processes which are central to the psychodynamic modality. This has implications for future psychodynamic training since new phenomena need to be incorporated into psychoanalytic thinking and practice. While results did not support replacing in-person therapy, there was support for a combined approach in future. As one participant said: ‘The genie's out of the bottle now’, something has happened which cannot be stopped.